Reinforced heel



4 Dec. 28, 1965 H. GOLDBAUM REINFORCED HEEL Filed Aug. 14, 1964 F l'g. 2.

Inventar Robert H. Goldbaum /Z4led W M Afforneys United States Patent O 3,225464 REINFORCED HEEL Robert-H. -Goldbaum 30 Woodland Way, Haverhill, Mass.

Filed Aug. 14, 1964, Ser. N0. 389,570 1 Claim.- (Cl. 36-34) The present invention relates to reinforced heels of plastic or other weak materials. 'Ihe invention is particularly related to reinforced heels of relatively very srnall cross section for use in womens shoes.

Heels of the above-described character are exceedingly weak, wherefore, in order to prevent fracture thereof, during use, they have been strengthened by reinforcing dowels driven into longitudinally extending recesses thereof.

The reinforcing dowels, however, have had a tendency to turn in the recesses of the heels.

Many expedients have been resorted to in the endeavor to offset this turning tendency. Among these expedients have been to provide the reinforcing dowel With longitndinally extending ribs for biting into the plastic or other materials of the heel. This has had several undesirable effects. In the first place, the ribs weaken further the already weak small-cross-sectional stem of the body of the heel by biting into it. In the second place, the reinforcing dowel has itself become weakened by the reduction of its diameter caused by the removal therefrom of the material needed to provide the ribs. And, in the third place, this double weakening of both the materials of the heel and that of the reinforcing dowel has resulted in further weakening the heel as a unit. Thomsands of complaints have been made by women whose heels have given way under them during walking.

Other expedients than the said ribs have also been used to try to solve this problem, but they have been complicated and unsuccessful, in practice. Up to the present time, the above-described rib solution of the problem, therefore, has found most favor upon the market.

An object of the present invention is t provide a very simple solution of the problem that, despite its simplicity, has unexpectedly been found to 2be very eflective, in practice.

Other and further objects will be explained hereinafter and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

With the above objects in view, a feature of the invention is to eliminate altogether the ribs heretofore ernployed, but to employ an ordinary reinforcing dowel of round cross-section. The tread e'nd of the reinforcing dowel, of course, carries the top lift, and its heel-seat end is driven into the body of the heel. This heel-seat end, however, departing from the prior heel art, is chiselshaped After the reinforcing dowel has been driven into the heel, it is impossible to turn it. The chiselshaped end of the dowel, it is true, bites into the weak material of the body of the heel; but that is no disadvantage, because this occurs in a portion of the heel, near the heel seat, where the heel is quite wide, and not in the thin cross-sectional parts of the hee1, where the ribs have heretofore been employed. The only weakening, moreover, is at the two opposite edges of the chisel; in between these two opposite edges, on both sides of the chisel, the material of the heel is totally unweakened. Unlike the ribs of the prior-art dowels, therefore, the chisel does not weaken the heel.

The invention willnow be described in connection With the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1-is a perspective of a heel constructed in accordance With a-preferred embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view, partly broken away, of a preferred reinforcing dowel, With a top-lift blank secured thereto.

The reinforced heel that is illustrated by FIG. 1 is shown having a body portion of relatively weak material, such as plastic, provided With a relatively large heelseat end 2, a stem 4 of relatively small cross-section, and a relatively small tread end 6. The body portion is interiorly provided With a recess 8 extending longitudinally from the tread end 6 to near the heel-seat end 2. An elongated reinforcing dowel 10, constituted of material, such as steel, that is much harder than that of the body portion is shown provided With a chiselshaped heel-seat end 12 and a tread end 14. Except for the tread end 14, the reinforcing dowel 10 is driven into the recess 8 to a point near the heel-seat end 2 of the body portion, as shown by dashed lines in FIG. 1. The tread end 14 of the rei.nforcing dowel, therefore, extends downward, beyond the body portion, to receive a top lift blank 16, as shown in FIG. 2 The blank 16 becomes later shaped into the form of a top lift 18, as shown in FIG. 1.

The diameter of the reinforcing dowel 10 may be the same 0.141 inch that has heretofore customarily been employed. The formation of the ribs that have been provided upon prior-art dowels have resulted in reducing this diameter from the customary 0.141 to 0.135 inch. T0 that extent, the re'mforcing dowel 10 of the present invention is stronger than the said ribbed reinforcing dowel of the prior art.

It has been found that, because cf the shape of the chisel end 12, With a chisel blade shown extending substantially the Width of the dowel, it is not necessary any longer to employ the ribs that have heretofore been ernployed upon prior-art dowels. The shape of the chisel 12, by itself, prevents rotation cf the dowel and, by eliminating the necessity for grooving the dowel to produce the said ribs, the dowel itself becomes stronger, because cf its greater diameter.

The recess 8 in the body portion 0f the heel to receive the reinforcing dowel 10, moreover, need not any langer be scored, and, therefore, retains the full strength of its plastic or other weak material. A double strengthening of the heel therefore occurs; first, by reason of the stronger reinforcing dowel 10; and, secondly, by eliminating the scoring of the recess 8 itself.

It has, moreover, been necessary, during the pre-drilling of the recess 8, to pre-shape the heel-seat upper ends of the drilled recesses 8 conically, in order the better to fit the correspondingly conically shaped sharp ends of the prior-art reinforcing dowels. This, however, is longer necessary, according to the pr'esent invention, because it has been found that the chisel-shaped heelseat ends 12 of the -dowels 10 of the present invention will drive themselves into the material of the body portions of the heels without any previous pre-shaping of the heel-seat ends of the recesses 8.

The present invention, therefore, makes it possible to use standard round 01' cylindrical dowel=s, without ribbing them, and With no other changes than t0 provide them With the chisel ends 12.

Modifications will occur to persons skilled in the art,

and all such are considered to fal1 within the spirit and scope of the present iiivention, as defined in the appended claim. y

What is claimed is:

A reinforced heel having a body portion of a relatively weak material provided with a relatively large heel-seat, a stem of relatively small cross-section, and a relatively small tread end, the body portion being interiorly pr ovided With a recess extending longitudinally from the tread and to near the heel-seat end, an elongated reinforcing dowel of round cross-section constituted of material much harder than that of the body portion provided With a heel-seat end and a tread and, the reinforcing dowel, except for the tread end, being driven into the recess to a point near the heel-seat end of the body por- 4 tion, the heel-seat end of the dowel being chisel-shaped with a chisel blade extending substantially the width of the dowel to prevent rotation of the dowel in the recess, and a top lift secured to the tread and of the dowel.

References Cited by the Examiuer UNITED STATES PATENTS 3040452 6/1962 Whitted 36-34 3,041744 7/1962 Brauner 36--34 3,050877 8/1962 Ronci 36-34 3,057087 10/1962 Gudermuth 3634 3134180 5/1964 Stone 3636 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

FRANK J. COI-IEN, Examiner. 

